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Colin shortly afterwards decided to open his own Record Shop and left Tree. I suddenly found myself with a Label and decided I better start recording some artists. The next 6 months were hectic and produced a string of 7" 45rpm record singles that established Tree as a serious Label. Apart from a young Rick Bryant making his first record with Gutbucket (blues) and The Supernatural Blues Band (blues) being the first blues recordings made by NZ artists, they were original material.

Then my passion for The Electric Prunes and The Who kicked in and Random Thoughts and The Group recorded their psychedelic rockers "The Trouble" and "People In The Night". Lianne made a solid rocker "Mississippi Paddleboat" but "My Love Is For You" (the B side) was a bigger hit. Random Thoughts' "The Only Living Boy In New York" was recorded as a NZ Gold Disc entry but upset both CBS and Philips (our Distributors) so much that Philips and Tree parted company.

By 1977, Tree Records had released 15 7" singles, 4 Ep's and 3 Albums, the last being the Progressive Country group Haystack. My life then took another turn and Tree Records did nothing until 1996. The re-Issue of all those singles plus a couple of bonus tracks saw the "Kiwi Made Music" 2 CD Set being launched.

In August 2007 I decided to join the new technology and way of selling music and signed up with CD Baby to distribute the hard copy CD's and organise the 27 Digital Downloading Sites for digital downloading of the music. On September 14, 2007, Tree Records arrived at iTunes. By the end of 2008 Tree had released a total of 12 Albums, signed British Guitarist Chris Adams and Canadian singer/songwriter Istvan.

2009 started with a major shift from Digital Distribution by CD Baby to an Exclusive Digital Distribution & Marketing Contract being signed with The Orchard. By the end of April 2009, The Orchard was managing all Tree's Digital activities while CD Baby continues as the hard copy CD seller.

My career started as a singer, turned journalist, turned record producer and I feel very privileged to have had such a wide ranging career. I have also been fortunate in meeting and working with the best people on the New Zealand Music Scene, who taught me much about how to make it work.

You can meet all the artists I have recorded and learn a lot more about me and Tree Records at the www.treelabel.com web site and listen to sound samples at CD Baby, using the www.cdbaby.com/all/treerecords link. I hope you all enjoy the music as much as I did producing it. - Dene Kellaway.

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